the current election season has been going on for a really long time. since i was living in DC (the city that eats, sleeps and...er, breathes politics) during summer last year, it felt as though it began even earlier than it did in the rest of the country. even moving to another country provided little respite from the election. people asked our opinions on the candidates and NPR's news programs ("forgive me father, for i am a yuppie...." i can't stand network tv news) gave ample air time to them as well. there has been no escaping it. so i've stopped trying and started thinking about the election, the issues (yes, that is plural, there is more than one issue at stake in this election) and the candidates (i must admit that i prefered thinking about them when there were more than two to pick from... it gave an albeit futile sense of hope that things could change from politics as usual).

the groundswell of support for Ron Paul made things interesting for a while. he brought up broader issues than just the pointless wars america is waging (and losing?) and the aging population's desire for cheaper drugs. issues like america's essentially hollow monetary system (try moving overseas on a tanking dollar. suddenly exchange rates and inflation take on a whole new dimension) and the gutting of our constitutional rights, liberties, and protections. but as the year progressed and the primaries passed one by one the field of candidates narrowed and that broad range of issues shrank back to it's now usual selection of the war on "terror" (or "who can we next attack to feed our all consuming need for oil"), health care (or "we want cheap drugs") , and the economy (or "help, i've bought more house than i could actually afford and now i can't pay for it").

and of course, the abortion issue. what is for so many people, The Issue, the be-all and end-all factor in their voting decision. no matter what else the candidate may support, as long as he falls on the right side of that issue, he's ok.

and i hate that fact.

don't get me wrong, the thought of abortion and related issues makes me sick (quite literally). it is an inherently evil action that is an attack on all of mankind's inherent dignity. i know this very well (i did write my thesis on the subject of man's inherent dignity you know...). but i resent essentially being backed into a moral corner regarding who i can vote for without falling into "grave sin". (i can just hear the neo-cons laughing: 'ha ha, we can do anything we want! as long as we give them this one thing, they HAVE to vote for us!)

i do realize that with out working to end abortion all of our other works for the benefit of our fellow man are undermined. but this does not, can not, give us licence to ignore other issues at stake in this election. there are three other sins crying to heaven for vengeance besides murder. justice for the poor and the defrauded working man are not going to come about just because the pro-life movement happened to win a few minor legislative battles (or even a few major ones).

people, wake up!

electing officials on a single issue means that they will be accountable to you on that one issue. this just is not good enough. yes, keep working faithfully on ending the horror of abortion; just don't sacrifice other equally important issues for its sake. keep in mind that politics is like marriage, you get the whole family. you're not just electing the candidate; you are also electing his advisors and policy makers and all those lobbyists that put him in office in the first place and are now owed favors. thinking otherwise is just beyond naive, it's just plain stupid. so go take a look at your candidate's policy advisors. pay attention to who has his ear (and more importantly, who is and was paying them).

i repeat: single issue politics is just not enough - not as citizens and not as catholics. and the only way that's going to change is if we make the people we put in office truly accountable to us.